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In a few days, our President will address the Lackawanna College, Pennsylvania and talk about making college affordable for the middle class. This will be a part of his ongoing effort to reinvigorate the agenda to strengthen our middle class.

Choice of this region for the President’s bus tour is not very surprising according to Ed Mitchell, consultant Democratic politician. Referring to more than ten colleges and universities in the region, Mitchell said that Pennsylvania, especially the north-eastern part of the state was a major hub of higher education.

Expanding colleges and extending grants for students to lower cost of loans will benefit a whole lot of kids, he pointed out. He also said that we need both good schools and great job opportunities which will also happen with lowered loan costs.

In a bid to promote middle class agenda, our President in the next two months will spread the message. He said that he will address all aspects of being a middle class in America and what it entails. He also said that he will address issues faced by low income families as they try to work their way into the middle class apart from aspects such as durable industries, good wages and job security.

President Obama’s efforts are no doubt worthy of applaud but are we making a progress in the right direction? Days after Obama announced his goals for college affordability, public college students in Louisiana enter college with a grim outlook as they are all set to pay much more in tuition and fee costs this year.

Are they getting more in return for the extra dollars they have to pay? Certainly not! In fact, many feel that these students will not even get the same level of service and standard of education they got last year. Fewer campus programs and course offerings for a higher fee severely hamper our President’s efforts.

This situation can be directly linked to state budget cuts for the sixth year in a row. State funding continues to dwindle and who else can fill the gap but students and parents? According to Board of Regents data, in the past five years, at least 48% funding has been cut by the lawmakers and Gov. Bobby Jindal. Only two-thirds of the fund loss is being offset by students. What can we then expect from our colleges?

There is no effort from Louisiana to boost funding, reverse course and start reinvesting in higher education like some other states. Public university financing has been bumped up by at least 37 states according to a report issued by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities report last month.

A fact to be noted is that Louisiana tops the list of largest state higher education financing cut. To add to their woes, vague money arrangements such as loan repayments and property sales have been tied up to part of the year’s campus budges by lawmakers and the governor. In the meanwhile, students in many colleges and universities across our country are all set to pay more for less.